Thomas Edison was an amazing man

There are reports that he could be a bit of a jerk as well but you
take the good with the bad

In 1914 you could
purchase a new plug in electric car from the Anderson Carriage Company
for around $2600. You could choose to upgrade to the Edison Electric
Batteries for an additional $600. In 1914 you could buy a new Model T
for $619 so the $600 upgrade to Edison batteries was a serious expense.

What is so different about Edison Batteries? They do not use lead or
acid. They use nickel, iron and the liquid was a base, sodium hydroxide.
Edison said the batteries would be good for at least 100 years if
maintained and could last much longer. So if these batteries were so
great why are they not around any more? Well actually they are still
around. Today they are mostly made in China and Russia. They work well
for off grid wind and solar systems. They are not great for holding a
charge for a long time but for electric cars and off grid systems they
work well. They were used in railroad switches and minors lighting. Jay
Leno has a set for his 1909 Baker Electric but choose to run a more
modern set for the car. We have been lucky enough to pick up a display
from the Edison Battery Company. The display was used to promote their
batteries back in the early 1900's